A/N: Hello and welcome to this, my first Epic Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. For those who didn't gather so from my wonderfully cryptic summary, this story takes place during the events of Kingdom Hearts 2, and goes in the direction of what would have happened if, when reconstructing everyone's memories, some important details were forgotten. It's not a terribly brilliant plot, but it is my unique take on the characters and the situations presented in the course of play.
I have been a long time lurker of the KH fandom, and although I never planned to write a story of my own, I decided that I needed to. There are dozens of very well-written stories out there, but I cringe half the time I read anything because I hate either the depiction of Kairi, or the characterization of Riku. Therefore, these are the two characters I will be focusing on mainly during this fanction.
This story will be "light yaoi", and when I say that, I mean that the romantic elements of this piece are very low key. I'm focusing more on characters and reactions. There will be small moments of romance, but they will be of a yaoi nature. I don't write sex though – no lemons, no limes, no fruit at all. Some light kissing and bedroom eyes will be the extent of that. You have been fairly warned.
Finally, this is going to be a rather long story. No less than 20 chapters. I am going to be picking apart the second game. I expect this story to take a long time too, though it will not interfere with my other work. And though the first few chapters do follow the game very closely (i.e. I will be using actual dialogue from some cut scenes), it will sharply veer from the original storyline the farther I get into it.
I hope all of you will enjoy this story half as much as I did brainstorming / writing it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Although I did create the characters of Arisa and Kimiko, they belong to the story, and are up for grabs to anyone.
--X--
Trinity Wild
"There are no matters more difficult, more joyous or painful, more exciting or frightening, than the workings of the heart." -- Anonymous
Time moves different in darkness than it does in light. It is easier to lose track of time, to forget the hour or the day, when there is no sun to go by. In darkness, there is no give or buffer. You are left alone with yourself, without barriers or distractions.
In darkness, you can't lie to yourself, because it's all there. It's all that is there. The truth. The good and the bad: about yourself, about the world, and about everything you'd ever hidden in the farthest reaches of your mind. And it is always easier to believe the bad about oneself than the good, which was why so many people who become caught in the darkness are lost to it. In the darkness, you can become no more than you were meant to be, and no less than you are. There is more honesty in darkness than there is in light.
--X--
Moving is a strange practice. Picking up the pieces of what makes a life and taking them with you over fields and oceans and miles of country to settle somewhere else. Most of the time, somewhere completely unknown and strange. Then there is the task of continuing that life brought from another place. Another world.
There are some who are better at the practice than others. Some people are more adaptable to the winds of change. There are few, very few, who carry their light, their life, with them, where ever they go. It can be hard and daunting, because it is a burden to bare that every day, but some are just that accepting of the world. Of the emotions of others, and the blows of life. These are the people who understand the value of the moment. They know that things are not always what they seem. The patient ones.
--X--
There are benefits of innocence that are lost when it goes. Purity, or rather, the pure of heart, are those capable of doing great good in the world. They are untouched by darkness, by evil, though they do all that they can to help ease the suffering of others.
Some call them soft-hearted, but they are stronger than most. The innocent are the ones who are never swayed, who never waver when it comes to doing the right thing. Some think innocence is stupidity, but it is a unique and powerful gift, to be able to see through the lies to the heart of all matters. Never given enough credit, and sometimes not even thanked for their trouble, the innocent are those who live in the light and empathize with the darkness without ever being touched by it.
--X--
Prologue
--X--
Sleep now, my dear one, sleep now,
For when you wake,
The earth will quake,
And let us know you're here.
Sleep now, my beloved one, sleep now,
You have fought well,
So rest for a spell,
And I will keep you safe.
Sleep now, my precious one, sleep now,
Know that I am here,
To chase away your fear,
I will be your light.
So sleep, sleep, sleep...
--X--
Sora had always been a dreamer, in both senses of the word.
On the one hand, he had always loved listening and telling fantastic tales about far off places and daring adventures. Call it a hero complex. It was something common among children with a strong sense of imagination. All kids pretended, dreamed. It's wasn't unusual for kids who have lived their entire lives in one place to dream about spreading their wings and going on to something new and exciting. His mother and his friends had always found it amusing and fun.
But he had also dreamed in the more literal sense, when he slept. Sora always dreamed, and he always remembered his dreams, which was something less normal. Especially when it came to the recurring dreams that had plagued him for weeks and weeks before it happened. Before his life changed.
Once upon a time, there was a boy just like any other, who lived on an island surrounded by other islands in the midst of a great ocean. On his island, he was a prince. Everyday was filled with adventure and excitement, whether it was playing alone or training his skills, whether it was competition or games. On his island dwelt five others, three other princes and a pair of princesses. Together, the six of them made up a world that belonged to no one else.
In reality, Sora was not a prince. He lived in a tiny house on the edge of the large town on one of the main islands. An only child, he lived alone with his mother. His father had left the two of them when Sora was three, and the boy had no real memories of him. His mother, Kimiko, worked two jobs to pay their bills and rent, but the pair of them had always been happy. They had always looked after each other, and forgave each other. They were a family.
No, his life hadn't been a faerie tale, but he had always been happy. With his mom, with his friends, with his life.
Then that world, his world, had been blown apart because of happenings much bigger than a single boy. Because of things set in motion beyond even his understanding. But understanding or not, willing or not, Sora was thrown into the middle of conflict that was much bigger than all his dreams.
Another boy might have rebelled against such a fate, might have said it wasn't his fight. Another boy might have run from the responsibility.
But Sora was a dreamer. He had been blessed with a nature and a sense of right that outweighed even his fear of the unknown. Maybe it was the hero complex come back in another form. The prince taking up his magic sword and fighting away the evil that threatened to swallow the world in darkness, all while saving the princess and battling his best friend, who had turned to the dark side. A common archetype of herodom.
That was the story, his story. Fighting bravely, alongside his two new companions. Saving the world, as well as Kairi and Riku, from the evil Ansem. Closing the door to Kingdom Hearts with his keyblade in hand. Happily ever after, right?
Wrong.
There was no happily ever after for Sora at the end of his story.
Kairi was back in the islands. Riku was locked behind the Great Door, inside darkness. And Sora, he was sent on another journey.
Sometimes, his story felt like just another dream to him.
It was probably because he was just so tired.
Tired.
After all was said and done, after he had been separated from his friends after fighting to find them again, after the fight was over and he was standing on solid ground again, all he had been doing was walking. Him and Donald and Goofy.
Granted, they could be doing a lot worse things than walking. At least the worlds were safe and the Heartless were conquered. Now they were on another journey, to find Riku and King Mickey, who had been sealed behind the door to Kingdom Hearts. No one knew how long it would take them to find the two lost warriors, but the three goofballs never gave up hope. If they were anything, it was optimistic.
Then, the strange things started happening. There was a castle, or something. And guys in black. And then that girl...
There was a girl, wasn't there? Yes, yes there had been a girl.
It was strange, he was still so tired that things started slipping his mind. Like the girl, he couldn't remember her name. Or just what the castle looked like exactly.
He really needed to sleep a little longer. Donald and Goofy would let him have a few extra minutes, he was sure. He just needed a few more minutes, just a little more time, just a little more sleep...
--X--
...Sora twitched inside his plastic and metal prison. It was like he wanted to turn over on to his side before going back to sleep, where his cycle had broken just a little.
The twitch was monitored, of course. The beeping and buzzing and humming of the machines that monitored him made sure of that. It was scrawled with ink on to a long strip of paper that was continuously being spit out of a graphing machine. This mapped his brain activity, much the way that some of the other computers did.
It was easier to read the records off of the computer screen, but since the computers and labratory equipment was boxed and in the middle of the move, allowances had to be made. Paper read outs and charts were used instead of computerized data.
There was a man nearby, moving among the sparse machines. He would pause at a monitor to watch a pattern, then move to one of the graphs and rip off a section of paper to study the activity. Sometimes he would sigh with disappointment, other times he would chuckle in pleasure. There had been a few minor setbacks in the infancy of this plot, but everything was now moving swiftly on course.
A few more months, maybe. No more than a handful.
Walking among the machines, his steps in sync with the beeping of the nearest monitor, he moved toward the cell in the center of the room. It loomed toward the sky, like a beacon. It was shaped like a flower bud, covered by several large petals that held a different function for the research being conducted. One controlled the temperature inside the pod, another maintained the pressure while another continuously pumped oxygen inside while simultaneously making it so the denizen within remained under the spell of sleep.
Naturally, there were some lapses when his mind hic-cupped and he became semi-conscious. It was at times when his cognizance started to remember things, all in a burst. Images and sounds and small bits of time that came before which exploded within him.
The man placed his gloved hand on the outside of the pod, patting it gently as he turned away, still reading the print out.
He found it all immeasurably interesting. Tons of theories could be made about the human consciousness simply from studying this one boy's sleep patterns. His dreams, his brain activity, all of it.
Sora, technically, had amnesia. If he were conscious at that precise moment in time, he would not know his name or recognize his two friends who slept in their own pods not far away. His mind had been wiped of everything a few months ago. By the witch, who slept in her tower at that very moment.
But even though his mind had forgotten everything, his heart could not. So every now and then, there would be that tiny break where things would come back to him as he dreamed.
The heart remembered what the mind could not.
Rationally, it could be said that "emotion" was simply a chemical signal interpreted by the brain, and that the heart -- a simple muscle in the rib cage, had nothing at all to do with the rationale of thought. But it could also be said that once the imprint of an emotion is left, even without a chronological memory, it can be duplicated. The same might be said for people, that once we make a chemical imprint of them in our system, they can never truly be forgotten. A scent, a sight, a name all might inspire that feeling of recognition, even without a memory to back it up.
That is something called deja vu.
It brought up so many questions! Was memory linked only to mental workings? Was emotion? Is personality controlled by memory?
So many theories and so little time. He mourned the thrill of the mystery left unsolved for a few moments, then sighed, letting it go. This was not the time for such things. There were bigger tasks at hand than letting his mind wander aimlessly toward formulating useless hypotheses.
Vengeance.
Retribution.
A cross to bear.
His helper would be about soon, and they would have new readings to mull over. And there was the witch, of course. She would be waking soon, and would need to be put to work. He'd also learned of a new possibility to add into the equation of their experiments. One with a fairly high probability of quickening their results.
Yes, there was never a shortage of things to be done, or plans to be made.
Yet another working of the mind.
--X--
He woke up humming an old tune. God only knows what made him think of it. It had been years since he'd heard that stupid little song. But when he blinked muzzy green eyes against the drugging sleep that still held sway over his foggy brain, he heard the sound of his own voice in his ears. That slow, almost haunting melody that had been sung to him so many times as a child that it became imbedded in his mind. Maybe he had been dreaming about it. He didn't know. He never remembered his dreams.
Sitting up slowly, Riku rubbed his hand over his eyes. It was dark, but his eyes didn't need to adjust. They never needed to anymore, so accustom had they become to the perpetual shadows he moved around in.
He must have fallen asleep on the bench in the garden again.
As he stood, he placed both hands on his hips and arched his back until it gave a satisfying crack. It left him feeling light-headed for a moment as he massaged his neck, breathing deeply. Another few nights like this and he'd get scoliosis, or a hump, by his twenties. It was enough to bring a smile to his face as he walked a winding path around the grassy area.
He looked up at the sky, clear and dark overhead. The stars blinked gaily at him in their multitude of color. It made him think back to what he read in a book once, that the color of the stars told you how far away they were, since distance and light rays determined color when filtered through the optical nerves.
Another angry, quicksilver smile. Just that thought made him feel a bit of disgust for himself.
Riku was always one to think logically. Even as a kid, he had learned very early on to observe everything going on around him and to adopt a mature attitude. He always wanted to learn everything he could, had always been eager for an adventure into the unknown. Easily adaptable, he was ever on a pursuit of truth and knowledge. Always trying to act older and wiser than he was, or felt.
"Star light, star bright," he whispered aloud, staring at the sky. "Brightest star I see tonight." It was an old rhyme, like the lullaby he had woken up singing. For some reason, he just felt whimsical tonight, a bit too nostalgic. "Wish I may, wish I might." Just who had taught him this little wishing poem, he couldn't remember. It was one of those things that he had learned before conscious memory took hold, usually around the age of four. "Have the wish I wish tonight."
He closed his eyes then, blocking out the sight of the sky and concentrated on the sound of leaves rustling in the night breeze and the smell of wet soil from the dew collecting on the grass. Small, comforting things that reassured him that this was not the Realm of Darkness, that this was some place and not no place. "I wish I could forget," he whispered aloud, unsure of whether or not the wish would be void if it was overheard by insects or animals.
There were too many things in recent memory that he wanted forgotten.
His battles, his betrayals, and his journeys through darkness, to name a few. Just thinking of it made his heart ache and he pressed a gloved hand over his chest, squeezing the black leather material of his overcoat.
Nearby, an owl hooted and it startled him momentarily. Then he shook his head in reprimand for being so jumpy. This place was safe, for the moment anyway. As safe as anywhere could be. For a little while, it would be okay to lose himself in his thoughts, so he meandered across the grass toward a large trellis. A long vine climbed up it and he curled his finger around one of the delicate tendrils.
It reminded him of the rock ivy back at the island, the kind that grew only in the shade. There were a few flowers lingering on the vine, wilting. The first blush of Spring leaving the garden. Summer was on its way, and things would grow lush and green in preparation. That also reminded Riku of home, of his sister's garden in the tiny backyard of their house.
And just like that, thinking of that pathetic little patch of plant-death in the matchbox backyard of his old home, Arisa came unbidden to his mind.
Riku didn't have parents. That is, of course, not to say that he never had them. Like most vertebrate creatures, he did have them at one point. They were dead now -- there was a boating accident when Riku was seven. He had been raised by his sister, Arisa, who was ten years his senior. Thinking of her was like a sucker punch, thinking of how she had to be out of her mind with grief and worry. And loneliness.
She was one of the main reasons that Riku had trained as hard as he did, learned as much as he did, became as mature and logical as he was. He was the man, the one who needed to protect his sister from the creeps of the world. It was only fair, considering everything she had given up for him. His innocence didn't seem that big of a trade-off.
Riku sighed, gently fingering the tendril of ivy before gently placing it back on the trellis and padding around the garden a little more. He thought about things, things he didn't want to forget. Like times he had spent on the islands with his friends: the feel of the hot sun on his shoulders after a great fight against Tidus and Selphie and Wakka, racing Sora across the sand and surf while Kairi's laugh would follow them, or sitting at the kitchen table with Arisa while playing cards late into the night.
He raked a gloved hand through his silver hair. It was getting long now, well past his shoulders. Such a vain, idle thought gave him comfort against the pain in his head and the ache in his head.
Soon he would have to move inside the house and go back to work. The lights, however dimmed, would hurt his eyes. The company, however interesting, would only serve to make him ache for things that once were, and might never be again.
"Don't think that," he growled to himself, shaking his head again. If he started to doubt, nothing would ever get done. He straightened his spine and turned, heading for the door, but his hand fluttered when it should have grabbed the knob.
It wasn't like him, since Riku was always the kind of person to see things through. He wasn't scared of what he couldn't see, of what he didn't know. His hand gripped the knob, fighting with himself, as if this one moment would decide his destiny. But that was stupid, he thought to himself. His destiny was not set in stone. Nothing was certain.
He moved into the house, closing he door behind him casually. Riku moved into the room, up the stairs, down the hall. He was there, waiting in the library, already carrying an armload of equipment with him. Riku quickly moved forward, grabbing a smaller box from his pile when it looked like the other man would have stumbled. "You should have waited for me," he said.
"I didn't know when you would return," the other man commented, almost sounding glad that Riku was there. "Come, bring those boxes. I need to set up the console before morning."
Riku did as he was told, following the older man down the hidden staircase and into the basement laboratory. His companion placed the boxes in a corner, turning toward a bench and station that would house several monitors and his motherboard that would connect to all his data collections in the chamber down the hall. Then he looked at the teenager who was lightly placing his load near that station, who wore a pensive expression that seemed even more stoic than usual.
"Do you object to something?" he asked.
"What?" Riku asked, blinking narrowed eyes toward the other man. He smiled a little sheepishly. "I wasn't paying attention, sorry."
"No need. But tell me what weighs on your mind."
"You'll think I'm being childish."
The man laughed, shaking his head. "You are more childish for thinking you will be judged for thoughts."
Riku shrugged, hiding his expression behind his long bangs. "It was a strange feeling I had when I came inside. Like a premonition. Something's about to change, and I can feel it." When his companion remained silent, pondering the other's thoughts, Riku voiced a question on his mind. "Do you believe in destiny?"
"Destiny?" The other man shook his head, kneeling beside one of the boxes to open it. He pulled out a keyboard and some wires before saying, "I believe in the power of rational thought over concepts of preordination." As he moved toward the station, ready to hook up the board to the open grids, he tossed Riku a bemused glance. "Do you?"
"I...don't really know," was his reply. "Though...I was once told that...every person has a purpose, but it's up to us to live up to it or not." In truth, that was the abridged version of that particular life theory.
"A novel idea."
Riku snickered. "I always thought so." He didn't feel like going into the entire history of that comment. It was a private memory that he reserved for himself.
He'd been about fourteen at the time, going through one of his characteristic teen angst sessions. This time, it was thinking about his parents, whether it had been their destiny to die in that accident or if it had only been that: an accident. Arisa, tired from working a double shift and badly in need of a shower, noticed Riku's mood and had forgone both hygiene and sleep in order to sit at the table with him, snacking and playing cards. It was their cure for anything.
"So, going to tell me what's on your mind?" she asked, shuffling.
"Mom and Dad," was his reply.
"Oh." Her hands never faltered as she began dealing. One him, one her. Back and forth until they both had five cards. Then she placed the deck aside. "Anything about them in particular?"
"Do you think they were meant to die that day?" His voice was sullen, and finally getting past that crackly, puberty sound of adolescence.
"Some questions can't be answered, handsome," she told him. "How many draw?"
"Two," Riku said, grudgingly discarding. "So you don't believe in Fate or Destiny or anything like that?"
"I didn't say that," Arisa commented, dealing again. "I believe that we all have a purpose, Riku. We're all here for a reason, and when our time is up, it's up." She arranged her cards, getting ready to place her hand down. "Some things can't be explained, mostly the big things. Death, love, why we're here, where we're going...things aren't always that simple. Logic doesn't have an answer for everything."
"It should," he complained. "What do you have?"
"Three ladies," she said, tossing down her queens. "You?"
"Two pair," he sighed.
Arisa gathered the cards and shuffled again. "Something tells me you aren't satisfied with my answers."
"You just told me that I have a definite fate, no matter where I go."
"You know, little brother, you have a way of hearing what I say and taking it completely different than what I mean." Riku gave her his patented deadpan glare, to which she only smiled.
"What did you mean then?"
She was quiet a moment, dealing them both fresh cards before picking up her hand. "Fate is like a game of cards, Riku."
"What? Your great pearl of wisdom is a card analogy?"
"Would you let me finish?" Arisa snapped, not really annoyed but playing the snarky sister. "Every day, we're dealt a fresh hand," she explained. "We arrange our cards any way we want, because it's our free will and free choice to decide what we do with ourselves. But at the end of the day, we're all still playing the same game. Do you get it?"
"I still don't get it," he sighed, drawing three cards.
"How many times do I need to tell you?" she asked. "Women equal complicated. End of story. Oh, and I hope you can beat a flush!"
The rest of the night had pretty much gone the same way, snatches of conversation in between hands of Poker. Arisa always creamed him, but with a smile and a compliment.
Riku of the present sighed. "Oh, Arisa." He understood what she meant now. Only now, after he had played a bad hand.
"What was that?" his present companion asked, looking up from his work.
"Nothing," Riku said quickly. "I should go get some more boxes."
As he turned to leave, the lights in the lab were turned on so that the equipment could be set up properly. Riku's green eyes ached. He reached into the depths of the pocket of his coat and pulled out a strip of black cloth. It weighed next to nothing against his palm, but it was his best protection. Sighing, he shoved it back into his pocket. For later.
"Riku," the other man called from behind him.
"Yes?"
"When you return, there is something we should talk about. I think that I may have discovered a way to help revive Sora faster than anticipated."
The words were music to Riku's ears, and he took the steps two at a time to get back faster.
--X--
Kairi's favorite time of day had always been sunset. The colors of the sky and the softness of the light had always appealed to her. It was the perfect blending of both light and darkness. It had been a long time since she simply sat on the dock and watch the sunset. Months, at least, though it felt much longer. Another lifetime almost.
Life altering experiences change a person. It's a commonly known and widely accepted truth. For what Kairi had gone through, life altering was mild. More like life exploding.
No, she wouldn't be bitter. She wouldn't complain. She would stay loyal and wait; it was all and the least she could do. For them. For Riku and Sora. For her champions and her best friends.
It would be worse than a lie to say she didn't miss them, or wish she could be where they were. It was constant agony to play the part of the "helpless female" and sit around, waiting for the men of her life to suddenly reappear on white horses. It infuriated her even as it made her infinitely sad.
Why had it come to this? she wondered, staring out at the horizon as it was painted all the tints of red a mind could fathom. Why did her life always have to fall apart just when she was at her happiest?
The first time had been when she was seven years old. At the time, she was living with her parents and her grandmother in their huge castle-like house in some place she could only vaguely remember on good days. It had been like a dream them, and she lived like a princess in the love of her family. The only child, the doted daughter.
But then things began to change.
It was subtle at first. People moving, fearful whispers, her parents smiling falsely to reassure her. Her grandmother hadn't liked that. She would shake her head and say that hiding bad things from children was only a guarantee that mistakes would be repeated. In those days, her grandmother would take her to the library and spend hours telling her stories of light and dark, of hope and love.
"Always remember, Kairi," she would say. "The greatest kind of heart is a patient one. That way, you can wait through the sadness that would cripple others and come back to the light with joy."
When her grandmother had died a few months later, it had been the first test for her patient heart. Tears and raw grief left her shaken, and so devastated she thought she could never be happy again. It had only been worse when her parents had packed their life up and decided it best that they leave their home. Kairi had said goodbye to her castle, and her library and her memories of that place. She was young enough that those memories would fade, but she refused to relinquish her grandmother. The person Kairi had loved most in the world.
To this day she couldn't remember how her family had gotten to these islands, but it didn't really matter anymore. Her father had come with his once-kingly riches and quickly become a powerful force in the island community. Rich and respected. Her father had always been kind and good with people, so it was little surprise that he got along so well here, where the people were friendly and easy-going. He bought the huge mansion house that had belonged to the old Mayor. It only made sense that her father become the next Mayor of their island.
Kairi's mother, beautiful and sweet as sugar, was also always good with people. She took a job as a teacher at the island's school, and she was good at it. Every night she would come home with new stories about how this child did this or that, and how she was amazed at the improvement of such and such a child.
The perfect couple, the perfect family. They were envied and adored by everyone, almost the moment they touched the sand.
It had taken Kairi a bit longer than her parents to get adjusted.
She had never seen the ocean before, or learned to swim. She was unaccustomed to sand or rowing a boat. The smell of salt air made her sneeze and the heat would make her light-headed. It was like a nightmare, this hellish band of islands her parents called paradise. Kairi wanted to go home to her castle and she wanted her grandmother's stories. She wanted her old life back.
Then, just when she was at her lowest, just when she was about to give in and beg her parents to take her home, everything changed.
One afternoon, when the heat was tolerant and the breeze was refreshing, Kairi sat out on the front steps of her new house-that-was-not-a-castle, drawing pictures in the dirt with a stick. So intent was she on her work that she only paused when a pair of shadows loomed over her happy sun and squiggly castle. Looking up, she was dazed to find two pairs of eyes staring back at her. One green as jade, the other cerulean blue.
"Hi!" one of them said. The blue-eyed one.
"Hi," she replied, moving back a little.
"You just moved here, right?" the other asked. The one with the green eyes.
"Yeah."
"I'm Riku," he said, then pointed to his companion. "This is Sora." They both smiled at her with toothy grins, friendly as could be. "What's your name?"
"I'm...Kairi," she said, feeling her fear leave.
"You wanna play with us?" Sora asked. "We're going out to the little island. Our friends are already there waiting for us."
"How do you get there?" Kairi asked, looking off to where Sora had pointed. A tiny island rose above the water in the distance. All green trees and white sand.
"We've got boats, of course," Riku said. "Don't you have one?"
She shook her head, blushing and feeling dumb.
"It's okay," Sora said. "You can ride with us."
"Let me ask my parents," she said, running inside. They agreed of course, happy she was finally making some friends. As she raced back to the door, she was half afraid that she had dreamed up Riku and Sora to ease her own loneliness, but there they were, waiting to take her to their island to play with them. All boyish smiles and energy.
She rode there with Riku, who she thought was the prettiest boy she had ever seen.
When they reached the island, there were three other children already hard at play. Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. All as friendly and fun as Riku and Sora. The six of them spent their day playing different games and running around until they could barely breathe. Kairi couldn't remember the last time she'd had such fun. Not since before her grandmother had died, for sure. As the sun set, they all promised to come back and play again the following day.
On the way home, Kairi rode with Sora, who was possibly the sweetest boy in the world.
That night, she asked her parents for a boat of her own.
In the weeks that followed, Sora taught Kairi how to swim and Riku taught her how to use her little boat. The salt air no longer made her sneeze and she grew accustomed to sand. Once she could swim, the heat no longer bothered her. On that tiny island that was green with trees and white with sand, with those five other children, Kairi had found her own paradise.
Over the years, they had all become as thick as thieves. Kairi could often be seen going to Riku's sister for advice, or chatting with Sora's mom over dinner. She and Selphie would jump rope together, or go to the market. Once they even attempted sunbathing, until Tidus and Wakka had come over and splashed them until the girls chased them down and made them eat sand. Every day was a new adventure, more fun than the last. But Riku and Sora had always had a special place in her heart. Her champions. Her best friends.
It was never a matter of choosing between them. She didn't think she really ever could. Sometimes she would tease them, let them fight over her like she was some kind of prize. She'd forgive them for it, and laugh at their antics, just like she always would. It was impossible to stay mad at Sora or Riku, because they were the best people she'd ever known.
The three of them had been inseparable ever since that day when they offered her a lifeline.
Sora, Riku, and Kairi. They were the Trinity.
As they started growing up, and Riku had started growing away, she had been desperate to keep the three of them together. What would she do if her paradise were altered?
Riku had told her first, before Sora or anyone else, about his dreams of going away from their island. Sora had gone home earlier because his mom was sick and he wanted to make dinner for her, and though they had made fun of him for being a Mama's boy, he wouldn't be Sora if he didn't care so much. They had been lounging on the papou tree together, watching the sunset, like they did on most lazy evenings.
"I've been thinking of building a raft," he had said quietly, staring out into the distance as if it held the secrets of the universe. When she pressed a little, the entire story spilled from him. His dreams of other worlds, his thoughts about wanting to find something new.
At first, she thought Riku might just have been dreaming, but then he told Sora. The two of them, planning and cahooting. She had been scared when they came to her, excitedly telling her their ideas. She was terrified of breaking paradise, of her world falling apart again. She was scared of what could be lurking out there, away from her beach and her family. But when they looked at her, with their blue and green eyes, she was powerless to fight against them.
She made the lists and sent them on their tasks with a smile and a giggle, all the time trying to quell her fears. In time, Kairi managed to convince herself that as long as she was with them, if the three of them were together, she would be able to face even the darkest of things.
Then came that awful, awful night. The storm. The dark. The door. A muddled mass of events that suddenly tore her paradise to pieces. Her body had been lost in the abyss while her heart had been absorbed by Sora. Then Riku...oh, Riku. Always thinking the ends justified the means. Fearless Riku fell to the darkness of his own questing heart.
But she didn't blame him, couldn't blame him, because she was just as much at fault as he was. She should have known that he would see how scared she was, that he would go to any cost to rescue what was most important to him.
There was a moment when she questioned, but Sora had set her straight. He had reassured her. No matter how deep Riku fell, they would bring him back. They had to bring him back, because who were Sora and Kairi without Riku?
Her heart had been rescued. Kairi placed a hand to her chest, feeling the familiar beat of it beneath her palm. Sora saw to that. He even went so far as to return her to the islands, to return her paradise. Sora promised to come back, and she knew he would. When he did, he would bring Riku. One day, the three of them would be together again. She felt the truth of it in the depths of her soul. But that day wasn't today, and it was another day spent waiting. Hoping. Wishing.
When the sun had dipped below the surface of the water, Kairi climbed into her boat and paddled for the home island. From a distance, she saw someone standing on the dock. As she drew closer, she saw that it was Arisa.
She and Riku looked very much alike. The same hair and eyes, the same cool, controlled attitude, and the same sense of humor. They were both beautiful beyond belief, which touched Kairi with just a dash of feminine envy. Where as Riku had been becoming more masculine as he grew older, he still retained that ethereal beauty that came from the silver hair and pale skin. Kairi still believed that he was the prettiest boy she had ever seen.
"Arisa?" The woman blinked out of whatever daydream she had been in and looked down at the small boat that was paddling into the dock.
She smiled when she saw the one in it. "Hello, Kairi. Home for the night?"
"Yes." The red-head tied her boat to one of the dock beams and climbed up the ladder. "What are you doing out here?"
"I got off work early," she said absently. "I thought I'd come look at the sunset."
Kairi looked at her friend's sister and felt her heart fall. The woman was losing weight, and the circles under her eyes told volumes of her sleeping habits of late. "I don't think Riku's coming back today," she said softly, coming to stand beside her.
"Oh, I know," Arisa replied. "But I promised Kimiko I would at least stand watch for a while. She's sick again. It's the anniversary tonight."
Kairi didn't need to ask what anniversary she meant, and her heart ached for Sora's mother. She was probably no better off than Arisa. How many months had they been gone, six, seven, more? The three women of the islands, waiting for their men to return.
It sucked, big time.
"Arisa, I know you miss Riku a lot," Kairi sighed. "I do, too. And Sora. And we can't give up hope. They'll come home. I know they will."
The older woman looked at the other beside her for a long moment before smiling slowly. "I believe it," she replied. "I know my brother, and that knuckle-head Sora. They'll come back to us."
Kairi smiled back, nodding. Although her heart still ached.
She had tried to tell them, once, about Kingdom Hearts and the keyblades and everything, but had stopped. What was the point in worrying them even more by saying what danger their boys were in? What would be the point in saying that darkness might have swallowed up Riku and thrown Sora into an obscure corner of the universe? All they knew was that Sora and Riku were gone while Kairi had come back. They didn't blame her, didn't hate her, but she was not who they wanted. Kairi knew that, and could live with it.
She bore the truth alone, in her patient heart. She tried to wait out the sadness of her life without her champions, so that when they came back, she would laugh and cry and hit them and hug them. And then they could be together again.
"Arisa," Kairi said, taking the woman's arm. "Why don't we go over to Kimiko's house? I can make dinner and we can all play cards for a while. I know she'd love the company."
"You're right." With one last longing look at the sea, the two turned from the water and headed back to the land.
"What game should we play?" Kairi asked, already knowing the answer.
Arisa smiled at her. "I haven't played Poker in a while. We can do some five card. Trinity wild."
As they walked, Kairi began humming a tune to calm her friend's nerves. A lullaby as dear as a friend. As old as the islands themselves.
--X--
Sleep now, my dear one, sleep now,
If you spill a tear,
Your crying I will hear,
And to your side I'll come.
Sleep now, my beloved one, sleep now,
This night may seem long,
But just listen to my song,
And I know you'll find your way.
Sleep now, my precious one, sleep now,
There is no shadow great or small,
That will keep me from your call,
I will be your light.
So sleep, sleep, sleep...
--X--
A/N: The next few chapters are already written and incoming. I hope you guys enjoyed this!